[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3762-3763]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, 2 years ago President Obama signed into 
law what I believe was the most forward-thinking and humane reform of 
our health care system since Medicare. Just like the Republicans 
opposed Medicare when it came in, they still want to get rid of it. If 
we look at the Ryan budget that came out, what do they want to do? They 
want to privatize Medicare. They have been at it ever since. They do 
not want this humane reform we passed 2 years ago.
  When the affordable care act became law, I said we have made America 
a more compassionate and a more just society. I believe this with even 
greater conviction now. In listening to my colleagues, my friends on 
the other side of the aisle, one would think this is all just about 
little nuts and bolts and this and that, but it is about humaneness. It 
is about compassion and about justice and, yes, it is about making the 
system work better for patients, not just for insurance companies and 
the insurance industry.
  Now that we have moved ahead to implement the law, the results have 
been striking. Every American now is protected against the abusive 
insurance company practices of the past. Let me put it another way. 
Because of the health care reform law, Americans now have protections 
that every Senator in this Chamber has enjoyed for years under the 
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. We now have extended that to 
all Americans. Listening to my friends on the other side of the aisle, 
they want to take it away from Americans but keep it for themselves. 
Oh, no; they do not want to give it up. I think what is good for 
Senators ought to be good for the American people.
  The young lady shown on this chart is Emily Schlichting. She 
testified before my committee last year, and this is what she said:

       Young people are the future of this country and we are the 
     most affected by reform--we're the generation that is most 
     uninsured. We need the Affordable Care Act because it is 
     literally an investment in the future of this country.

  Why does she say that? Because she suffers from a rare autoimmune 
condition which insurance companies would not even cover. But because 
we have said they cannot now discriminate if someone has a preexisting 
condition, Emily gets insurance coverage. Plus, she can stay on her 
parents' health insurance program.
  So far, the law has extended coverage to more than 2\1/2\ million 
young people such as Emily. Yet the Republicans want to take it away. 
They want to take away Emily Schlichting's insurance coverage. That is 
what this is all

[[Page 3763]]

about. They want to repeal the affordable care act--ObamaCare. What 
that will mean is that 2\1/2\ million people similar to Emily will lose 
their insurance. But they do not talk about that. They do not talk 
about that.
  Here is the coverage Americans have right now. We have banned 
lifetime limits. Let me tell everyone about Ross Daniels and Amy Ward 
from West Des Moines, IA. After developing a rare lung infection on a 
summer trip, Amy needed intensive treatment, including a course of 
medication costing--get this--$1,600 a dose--$1,600 a dose. Her 
insurance policy had a $1 million lifetime limit. Without our health 
care reform's ban on lifetime limits, this couple would have had to 
declare bankruptcy. After this experience, Ross said he can't 
understand why opponents of the law want to repeal it. He said:

       It is hard for us to believe that so many of the GOP 
     candidates would have us go back in time where an illness 
     like this would have forced us, or any other family for that 
     matter, into bankruptcy.

  Listen to what Republicans are saying. They want to take this 
protection away from Amy Ward and Ross Daniels and millions of other 
Americans. There are 100 million people being helped by the ban on 
lifetime limits.
  We have also covered vital preventive services free of charge. That 
has benefited more than 80 million people who now get free preventive 
care. It allows young people to remain on their parents' insurance 
plans until they are age 26. I can't tell you how many families I have 
talked to in my State of Iowa who have said this has been a godsend to 
them and to their kids.
  Here is the preventive portion. We all know prevention is the best 
thing we can do to change our sick care system into a health care 
system. Here is what we did. Here is what the affordable care act does 
on prevention. Before health care reform, colorectal cancer screening 
was covered only 68 percent by insurance companies, cholesterol 
screening was only covered by 57 percent, tobacco cessation only 4 
percent. Under the affordable care act, colorectal cancer screening, 
cholesterol, and tobacco cessation all are covered at 100 percent by 
every insurance company. Madam President, 100 hundred percent, not 57 
percent or 68 percent but 100 percent. We all know that early screening 
means people live longer and it cuts down on health care costs.
  So millions now receive free preventive care, and 86 million 
Americans had at least one free preventive service in 2011. Almost 1 
million Iowans, in my State, received at least one free preventive 
service in 2011. Yet Republicans want to take this away. That is what 
this is about.
  But Americans now have preventive care. They now are able to keep 
their kids on their policies until they are age 26. They now have a ban 
on lifetime limits. We now have a ban for children up to age 19 on 
preexisting conditions. That is all they want to do; they want to take 
this away. I say, don't let them take this away from the American 
people.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 50 seconds 
remaining.
  Mr. HARKIN. I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from 
Michigan.

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